I picked this up today for free on Facebook Marketplace. It’s heavy duty Carbon Steel and about 15x15, made by Weber.
What’s the process to season this? I have a lot of tools at my disposal, so let her rip. I don’t have a power tool to strip the seasoning, but I do have steel scrubber sponge and fine sand paper. I also have wagyu beef tallow and all the thermometers. And a gas grill that I’m putting this on.
You can use oven cleaner to strip off the current seasoning.
I use Black stone's griddle seasoning to season. I use very thin layer, let it completely burn off, then let it cool completely before adding another layer. After about 4-5 layers, I'm all set, with the surface being slick enough to bead oil.
Update: here is my griddle after some hard elbow grease and a steel pad. Still some rust residue, but not as much as before. I’d like to completely rid the griddle of rust for at least my first cook. Suggestions?
50-50 vinegar and water will help with the rust. Don’t leave it overnight or it will pit your griddle. Evapo rust will do the trick too. If you have access to an electrolysis vat it will pull the rust up out of those rough places too. Get the rust out and then let layers of seasoning help smooth out what sanding can’t.
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I don’t have a stand alone griddle… yet…. But I will openly admit that seasoning any cast iron OR cooker are probably the weakest parts of my game. I was generously gifted a griddle pan a couple years ago in The Pit Secret Santa, but I know I didn’t season it properly. This video was captivating!!! I can’t wait to get a griddle and be set up for success!!
I am going to be totally different than most here. I would clean it really well with the vinegar method that Oak Smoke suggests and then I would start the seasoning process. Light coatings of oil, get it hot until the oil starts to burn off and then let it cool and do it all over again.
I've owned my Blackstone for about... 4 years now? I think... here's what I do.
Scrape it down as best you can.
Heat it up, get it rip-roaring hot
Dump a cup or two of water on it while it's super hot
Scrape some more - the boiling, steaming water will pull a bunch of gunk and crap off the surface
Repeat a time or two
Keep heat rip-roaring
Use squirt bottle to spray a couple of ounces of avocado oil
Use a scraper or something to get the oil distributed
Use a lint free towel of some kind to wipe down, leaving only a thin coat of oil
Keep heat rip-roaring, you want 500 or so
Let it smoke off - give it 5 minutes
Wipe down with clean towel
Repeat squirt of oil, spread out, wipe with towel down to thin layer
Repeat 5 times at least - I never reduce the heat. Takes about a half hour total. The more layers, the better.
Final finish:
While it's super hot.
Take 2 large yellow onions, cut into chunks - 1-1½" pieces or so, place in a very large bowl, stainless, plastic, whatever.
Coat liberally with 3-4 tablespoons of avocado oil.
Toss/mix until all onion pieces are separated and coated with oil.
Toss on your smoking hot griddle surface.
Scrape around with your spatula. Cook the hell outta those onions, spreading them around to every corner of the griddle surface.
Once onions are thoroughly cooked down, remove and place back in bowl - now you have some grilled onions to use for... whatever!
Scrape surface down with spatula, maybe a couple squirts of water to get any gunk/junk off.
Lightly squirt a couple teaspoons of oil
Wipe around and spread evenly, then use a paper towel or clean towel to wipe off most of the oil, leaving only a very thin layer as protection.
Allow to cool, cover and store.
Repeat as needed. Each time, you'll take less time, need 1-2 coat and an onion, can be done in 10 minutes, even after a winter out under the cover.
This is what I do every year, essentially. I never strip it down to bare metal, I just get it super hot and dump water on it a time or two while scraping. Then start oiling.
This was just with repeated coals of avocado oil, very thin, no real cooldown in between. Before I learned about the onion trick, which helps get it nice and black and smooth all over.
I love my griddle. Can't wait for good weather, so's I can use it some more.
To expand on the comments above, acid is your friend when killing rust. Not something as strong as muriatic, but common "medium" active ones sold most often at hardware stores. E.g. the Evaporust noted above is phosphoric acid, same stuff as in Coca Cola, and Naval Jelly, and a bunch of other "magic" rust remover/converters. Another common one is oxalic acid, typically found in CLR or Barkeepers friend and others. These all vary by concentration strength so the label directions are your friend. Basically it only needs to be on the rust spots for a comparatively short time. When the spot turns black or dark grey it needs to be removed/neutralized before proceeding with the seasoning.
I too use avocado oil, mostly because it's relatively high temp and I've got it in the pantry. No need for "specialty" products. As noted above, multiple very thin coats till desired result. I recently sold my older Camp Chef griddle and when the guy who bought it asked how I got such a nice seasoning on it I told him the key was very thin coats of oil. I said, spread it very thinly, and when you get to the point where you think it's too thin to do any good you're probably just right.
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Sand paper. If you have an orbital sander, get some 120-grit and hit it with that. That will take care of the rust. Then season it like you would anything else. Do not waste any more time and energy with the Brillo pad. If you don not have a sander, just use the sand paper by hand, it will take care of it. This is just surface rust, that is all it is.
Thank you for that endorsement. However, I believe that RonB is the true artist in that department. Check out some of his boards from Secret Santa. realdocBBQ
Retired, living in Western Mass. Enjoy music, cooking and my family.
Current cookers Weber Spirit 3 burner with a full insert griddle added. A 22" Kettle with vortex, SnS and a Smokey Joe. The most recent addition is a Pit Barrel Jr with bird hanger, 4 hooks and cover. ThermoWorks Smoke 2 probe, DOT, 2 ThermoPops and a Thermapen MK4. A Thermoworks RFX Gateway 2 probe meat thermometer.
One other suggestion after it's fully restored. Unless you are planning on storing it indoors, get a water proof case to store in. I have the Weber full insert for my 3 burner Spirit. Carbon steel and weighs about 40#. It's in their case on the deck out of the weather. No way I'm lugging it around to the garage or down to the basement.
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